Spatialising Strategies for Shrinkage in Medium-Sized Shrinking Cities: The Role of Urban Planning
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Copyright (c) 2026 Ruiying Liu

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Keywords:
shrinking cities, spatial strategic planning, revitalisationAbstract
While the need for shrinking cities to adapt their infrastructure to smaller populations is widely recognised, there is still a lack of understanding as to how such policies translate into spatial strategies. Different approaches for urban spaces as well as coordinative strategies at the city scale remain to be clarified from the perspective of urban planning. To understand the spatialisation of strategies for shrinkage, this study investigates two medium-sized cities and identifies their strategies with spatial characteristics at different scales. The findings show local factors that are key to the spatialisation of strategies for shrinkage and how localised growth and shrinkage are leveraged for long-term development. It follows, that urban planning can play a unique role in managing urban shrinkage through its competences in terms of spatialisation and spatial visions.
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